KGCI: Real Estate on Air - From Combat to Commissions: Applying Military Discipline to Real Estate

Episode Date: March 17, 2026

Summary:This episode features Neb Y., a veteran turned successful real estate professional, discussing how his military background shaped his approach to the industry. The conversation goes beyond a simple success story, providing tactical advice on implementing "SOPs" (Standard Operating Procedures) in lead follow-up and client management. Agents will learn how to build a high-performance daily routine, maintain composure during high-stress negotiations, and use the "mission-first" mentality to provide superior service that naturally leads to referrals and long-term business growth.

Welcome back to the show. This is Randy Dick, and I'm the host of this podcast called Return on Life. And as you know, if you've been listening, it's not about the R-O-I. It is about the ROL. At least that's what I've found over the course of my 33 years in this game called real estate. So welcome here, and I've got a fantastic guest. You're going to love this dude. He is a real dude, and I mean a real dude.

I'm going to black, I'm going to screw up on the name. name, I know that, but I call them Neb Yidd for short, but it's really Neb U. Degling, no, Yedigling. Anyways, it's a fun name, and I never get it right, but anyways, that's why I call him Neb. Neb has a rich, rich past. 20 years in either the Air Force or the Army, and he's just got so many great stories. He's a fantastic storyteller, let me tell you. and in the last five years, he's been in the game of real estate.

What I love about Neb is that he brings the game. He is always bringing the game in whatever he does, and that is in the game of real estate. So his service level is impeccable, and you're going to love what Neb is going to share with us today. Neb, thank you for being here today. And one other thing I need to say is Neb is an incredible salsa dancer. Let me tell you. If you want to learn salsa, this is your man. So welcome here, Neb. Thank you for joining me here on the Return on Life podcast. Thank you, Randy. Thank you so much for having me. It's an honor actually to be here. I watch your show. You've got some incredible guests. And to be amongst them is actually quite an honor. And if only people know how amazing you are to get an intro like that, I'd rather one day do an intro for you like that.

Oh, you're way too kind. You're way too kind there, Neb. Well, hey, subscribers. We need some of you. So click the link below and make sure that you are the subscriber and that you are liking what we're doing here. That's if you like it. But I think there's some great content and you should be one of our subscribers. So, Neb, let me ask you, what was a journey like to get into real estate? And why did you choose real estate? You know what?

To be honest with you, you have a big part to play in it. I blame you partially. but the story is long and the road is very windy, but nonetheless, I think if I rewind a few years back, real estate was always kind of in my life. I looked at it, what people had and what I didn't growing up. My family, we were in the lower or middle class. We didn't have very much money growing up. I was born and raised in Ethiopia until I was 11 years old.

And all my friends in the high school, my mom bled, sweat, in tears to get me into a really good school and she couldn't afford but she did it anyways, a single mom. And I was surrounded with people that are pretty well off and had nice homes, but we lived in rental, small, tiny condo. Then somehow she figured a way to get me to Canada. And when I came to Canada, again, we lived in a co-op and somehow my family bled sweat and tears to get me to a really nice school in Vancouver where I was surrounded with people with these beautiful homes from which we didn't have. So I always wanted to not only have one, but my mom says, one day he said he's going to buy me a house. So anyways, fast forward, you know, near the end of

my time, I found myself constantly reading real estate books, and it kept creeping up in my head, and one thing led to another. And I reached out to someone who became my mentor without him realizing he was my mentor. And he just convinced me to be a realtor. That was you, because everybody kept hearing me talk about real estate and they said, why don't you? Yeah, so that's how I kind of tripped into it. What a story to come from Ethiopia all the way to Canada and then, you know, become the man that you are. I'm just so impressed, so impressed. And, you know, we did meet outside of being realtors. We met at an investment club, so to speak, and got to know each other that way. How is your business running and operating today?

what does it look like and how do you generate business today? Yeah, so right now I think my business is still growing. I'm still learning a lot. I consider myself a student constantly. And I'm young in that game, although I've been in the real estate business since 2020, which is a fun time to enter into real estate. I was blessed enough to be surrounded by teachers.

And so currently my business is doing well, but it's still growing. And a majority of my business is organic. So through people that I meet along the way, through connections I have from friends and family, and through calling through my sphere of influence, as well as open houses and things like that. So interesting background.

You come from Air Force and Army. Are there any parallels that you can draw from those years? Into real estate. You know what, Randy? I have often felt like I was not meant to be a realtor because I always had this image of this hustler, this, you know, very good at sales. And if, you know, you read my or heard about my history, there was nothing sales related in my entire career. And I always felt like I was behind the eight ball by joining so late into really what is truly and genuinely has been my passion all my life.

So I think one of the things I would love for people to kind of recognize is that, I mean, if you're genuinely in it because you love helping people and serving, that's what I always center around. Then I think that kind of draws in from all types of life experiences, whether it's the military or whatever others may have. But for me, lessons I've learned is failure is magic. And that's one thing I learned in military as well. Lessons learned. You know, you mentioned there's a key word in there, serve. Serve. And when I think of being in the military, I always think of the service or how you're serving your country.

And really, that's what we do in real estate. We just serve our clients. We want to do the best we can. We provide them with great information. And we just want to be, you know, giving them the best decision opportunity. Because that's what we're doing. That's what we're meant to do is just give them good information. so they make good decisions.

So I love that move that you said serve. I mean, that's why you convinced me. I think the conversation you and I had when I was talking to my family constantly about real estate, and they were like, just be a realtor. And I said, hell no, I'm not, I'm not being a realtor because I'm not a salesman, you know. And so when I sat down with you, I remember I said, Randy, I'm not one of those guys. If, you know, you were drowning and I had a life vest, I couldn't sell it to you for free. Right?

and that's how bad I considered myself at sales. And you told me that's not what a realtor is. A realtor is somebody who helps people and who serves people and just be yourself. And that's what I connected with. So for those of you out there who feel like they're not sure if they're going to be good realtors or whatever, if you're in it for the money, this is not the place for you. You're not here to serve. But if, in my opinion, but if you're in it to serve people, including your clients,

you're going to succeed real quick. Now, if I recall, and I just look at how many of you, years you've been in the game, you started in the COVID marketplace. And obviously there's been a lot of changes. There was a lot of changes that happened because of COVID. So pre-COVID, then COVID, then post-COVID. For you, because you entered in the COVID market, how did you see that trend laying out? And what's changed maybe that you thought this would never happen and is happening?

Is there anything there that you could share with us? So in terms of the business I experienced through COVID, again, I was inexperienced and I couldn't believe. One of the things I found hard was to prove your value as a listing agent during that entire rush. Because any Schmo could sell a listing at the time by just slapping it on and it's gone in a day. So it was hard. And I was thinking of myself, gosh, how am I going to separate myself during this time? And to be honest with you, since then, since the market has adjusted to what I understand to be much more reminiscent of normal markets, I feel a lot more comfortable because it allows me to actually show the skill sets I've learned, actually under your wings and many great agents that have given me some wisdom. So that change was great.

But I also wouldn't change it for the world. I think it's really important for anybody starting in any sort of time in real estate. You know, embrace where you are because the lessons you learn now is going to serve you, but it's going to change anyway. So just keep moving. Yeah. You know, a lot of people think that real estate is very, very competitive. And it can be really, really competitive.

But at some point, it also can be, well, it doesn't feel so competitive because of maybe some of the competitive of edges that you have personally, and you are more of the chosen agent, so to speak, so you don't have to chase it so much. Have you experienced any of that at this point where you feel like it's very competitive or I got this? I don't feel it's that crazy competitive because of the clientele I'm working with. Any thoughts on that? Yeah.

Again, it's all about mindset for me. So I failure is a thing that I love now because there's so many lessons from it. When I first started, I kept saying to myself, oh gosh, I don't have the experience these other agents may have. Or I've been in the military and gone for 20 years from the lower mainland Fraser Valley. So I don't have the connections. I'm not as in tune with the nuances of the areas or whatever. And so I saw that as my failure to not have started the real estate when my 20s.

like some of the great agents that are around now, I felt like I was on my back foot. The benefit, though, is when I changed my mind, and again, I got help from people like you to say, hey, the skill sets I picked up from the military, the skill sets I picked up from, you know, being a dance instructor or from being in the restaurant industry and being a, you know, everything from a cook to a manager,

all those life skills that I picked up along the way sets me apart from a lot of agents coming in. and I'm able to connect with a lot of clients and have client bases that I really kind of jive with. And so even entering into the luxury market, I'm able to actually have a conversation with people in a different language set than maybe an agent that's just starting out and has only been in it for two to three years. So all that to say, forgive my long windedness, is that you can turn what you're thinking

is your weakness into your uniqueness and strengths. And that's what I learned. Wow, great response, great answer to that. And yes, life lessons, I mean, and the life lessons that you've experienced all over the world and what you've done certainly sets you up to really serve and, you know, help those clients that you're working with. So we're going to finish off this section here of the real estate side of things, and we're going to move on to another topic, which is really near and dear to my heart, and I think it's really near and dear to Nubs as well.

And so we're going to transition to the under. dog mentality. And so before I do that, just want to remind you, hit the subscribe button. If you like what you're hearing and this is bringing you value, please follow us and subscribe today. So that's that link. Yeah, that's that link, right? So anyways, let's get on to the underdog and being an underdog.

Are you an underdog, neb? Oh, my gosh. I am always an underdog, and I hope to forever remain, you know, with that mentality. I love being an underdog. I mean, who doesn't love an underdog story? I mean, some of the best movies you watch from, you know, Rudy, I think it was, to, you know, remember the Titans to everything like that. They're the best movies.

And imagine if your story is the underdog story. Yes, I absolutely love it. Awesome. And how early on did you realize you were an underdog? And I think I know. Day one of my birth. of my birth. Of your birth, oh my goodness.

I know the underdog, the DNA is within all of us, but I didn't know that on day one you would know that you're... I have so many, so many stories of how much of an underdog I was in every aspect of my life. So briefly I told you,

I used to work in the restaurant industry. I felt like an underdog and an outsider because, again, I felt like an immigrant that's still trying to connect, you know, in a way. So when I entered the restaurant field, they looked at me, they said, you're not a very pretty looking lady. So you're not going to be a server. You're going to be in the kitchen. So, but what a benefit of world. Gosh, I think you're really good looking here, dude.

Thanks. Back at you. But yeah, I was sent into the kitchen, but I really wanted to go to the front of the house. So that was a mentality of like, okay, I got to prove myself. And I have to prove myself to eventually become a server, bartender manager. Same thing when I entered the military. I mean, this guy, listen, in Ethiopia, growing up, I was filled with fear, fear of everything. I was the biggest scared cat. And so please understand that whatever you're afraid of, whatever you feel underdog, it's okay. I suspect a lot of people feel that way as well. but yeah I just hated fear I hated fear more than I feared fear and so I felt you know I needed to be top gun you know that I love that movie and one thing led to another and when I entered the military

I was like a fish out of the water I didn't know all these things like weapons and all these things and all these kids around me were you know their dads used to take them hunting or they used to go camping all the time, outdoors kids. And I was a city slicker from Africa who knew nothing of that world. So I felt like an underdog there. When I switched to the Air Force, I felt like, again, a fish out of sea because all these people in the Air Force came from a different mindset. And the Army mindset was very different. And so again, when I started my real... So yeah, absolutely. All the time, underdog, for sure. You know, and fear is a powerful, powerful motivator, which, you know, really, you know, a underdog at the peak when they really feel like they're behind whatever it is. Is it fear or

drive or what? But fear is one of these things that do we make it up? Do we make up fear or is fear real? I heard someone say that fear is nothing but a sheep in wolf's clothing. We make things out to be so big and then when we face it often it's a lot smaller than we thought. It's in the mind. I mean, fear is good. I recognize it. I don't run from it anymore so much. I still trip up.

But yeah, it's a real thing. But, I mean, again, military stories. I'll tell you, when I was mentioning that I felt like an underdog in all those times, again, those were opportunities. For example, I said I was this immigrant from Africa coming in and entering into this world the military, it turns out that my experience from a different culture helped me when I was on tour in Afghanistan to connect a lot more to the locals because I could see nuanced similarities with my culture. So I was able to communicate and ease things a lot quicker. But fear definitely

tries to hold us back. It's okay. And I embrace it and move forward. Yeah. You know, I think we do need a healthy dose of fear, but we need to manage it. And a lot of people struggle with managing it. And when channeled, when channeled right, I think it can really power us through situations or things. And I'm sure you've experienced fear in your real estate business, you know. Oh my gosh. When's my fear? I try to tell this. I try to tell myself. And again, please understand. These stories may seem big to people. Again, remember where I came from but I remember being in the middle of a training episode where you know tanks are blown stuff up there's live rounds going everywhere live rounds blowing stuff up everywhere and and you're in the

middle of it and you're focused but understand there's a lot of training behind that then you go overseas and you're actually in a firefight and stuff is happening and that fear is in the back but the training has overcome and overwhelmed. So imagine having all that experience and then being told as a new realtor, you have to make calls and you're afraid of making that call. I mean, I'm afraid of a phone call. I'm afraid of knocking on a stranger's door. I'm afraid of opening for an open house and greeting new people after all of us.

Yes, yes, I am every time. And so it fears a unique thing. But with training and with repetition, you can kind of dull it down and calm it down so that you can keep three forward in my experience. Wow. Great way to put it in perspective, the things that we build up to be something so scary. And really, it's not a 911 call. It's not going to kill you. There's no death squad in the making.

Yet we put ourselves in such an anxiety state that we can't even function. I think that's a really good way to help us understand that this is not life or death. Just go up and do what you need to do. I mean, who has been afraid of calling a client and telling them the terrible feedback they've had from a showing? Or the fact that we have to adjust the price to a much lower than what I had originally told them. Like, it is a scary conversation, but it doesn't have to be. You're right. We're not, this is not, you know, a big.

surgery. It's just you're there to help. You're on their side. Yeah. Yeah. You know, a byproduct of underdogs is resilience and grit as well. And I'm sure you've brought a lot of that forward into your real estate business as well. And resilience is so, so powerful in the game of real estate and grit. It's a different time of grit. It's mental grit, not physical grit. but can you bring the physical into the mental to help it work in real estate as well? In my experience, it's tied one to one. When I am physically active, when I go to workout, it helps clear my mind and I show up better. And incidentally, it's not necessarily anything special that I'm doing in my business that

helps me succeed. It's just the repetitions. You know, I had the opportunity of listening to Sean Gagher, Eddie, what an amazing guy. And one thing that he said is just it's about doing the reps, like working out. The more you do the reps, the more you're likely to succeed. And Alex Formosie says the same thing. You know, the more you do the thing, the more likely you are to eventually succeed.

So with that physical thing, you learn that whatever you're doing, the more you do it, the better you get. And when you go out, you bring that into the workplace. So absolutely, I think the physical helps me get my mind. right helps me show up fresh and helps me just be healthier and be more present. And physical fitness is really important to you. I know that. You've been in some of my gym work. I know that you do that. I love that you kick my butt in those workouts too. And for those of you that I know, I know I look older than Randy, but he's actually older than me and he still kicks me, kicks my butt in the gym. It's awesome to watch. It's great.

Yes, it is important. But without the physical, you can't do the mental, correct? It's harder. I mean, you probably could, but it's a lot harder. It's kind of like the leverage, you know, if you put that leverage point at a specific spot, you can pull a heavier weight a lot easier. But when you don't have that physical activity, and I slip up, I don't work out as often as I should and I want to.

But when I do, I find it's a lot easier. to attack problems and I tend to be a lot clearer through thinking through problems. When I don't, I find it's a lot harder of a grind to figure things out. So yeah, yeah, for sure. Awesome, awesome stuff. So, hey, everybody, you don't know this or you may know this, but you're an underdog, just like the rest of us. And so we all have the underdog DNA in us.

And I need you to tap into that underdog mentality because as you can hear from Neb, it is alive and well and it served him so well and it served me so well i'm a serial underdog been an underdog all my life as well it's just like neb so thanks for sharing that and again remember if this is working for you you've got to subscribe hit that subscribe button so we're going to move on to another topic and that is about mindset mindset is such a big part of life it's our personal life it's our business life it's our physical the life, all of that is so important, but it's really, really important in sales as well. So mindset is what we're going to be talking about next. And what is your philosophy on building

mindset, Neb? It's everything. I remember when I left the military, I didn't leave because I hated it or anything like that. I left because I wanted to stabilize a start of family. But more importantly, I heard that my dad had Alzheimer's and my mom was going to need help with that. And I just, I wasn't going to be able to be present for that. So I had to sit and leave something that was a part of me now, that was a part of my identity for 20 years. Wow. The brotherhoods and sisters that I've had in there to extricate yourself from something

that you feel comfortable where you don't have to think. you just show up and do your duties. I mean, you do have to think. But anyways, and that was scary. And it took me sitting there and visualizing and working on my mindset in order to convince myself that I was going to make it and succeed. And then, you know, I didn't enter immediately into real estate as a realtor. I initially wanted to become an investor and I bought my first place with that thought

process. And again, mindset was everything on that as well. Mindset is the reason that I found my wife. Mindset was the reason that I was put into your sphere and was connected into this. Mindset is why every day I meet amazing people and succeed. It is everything for me for sure. Yeah, you know, mindset is so, so powerful. Without it, you know, we often will fail.

And what happens is we get to a place where we have. have this safe island. And safe island for you was the military. And now you had to go out of that safe island. I'm going to suggest that we have safe islands as realtors. And we're not willing to step out of that safe island, which is where so much opportunity is. And maybe that safe island is you've been selling and doing your lead gen and your prospect in the same way forever and ever. And it's not working out. Are you willing to get off that little safe island and do something significantly different. That's the question. And that's why I love how you shared that, Neb, that you, I know, are willing to explore and jump off the safe island if you need to to survive, right?

We need to do that. This philosophy, how does it help build client relationships? You know, how we show up says everything. And, you know, one thing you said was just be yourself. and there's the tendency to want to be a chameleon. But really the other side of it is you have to attract your people. It's so much easier working with people you want to work with. It's easier to help them and serve them. The whole concept of the 80-20 principle, if you're spending 80% of your energy on somebody that's only giving you 20% of your business,

why are you draining yourself, you know? And so when I sit down and I start thinking about who is my client, how am I going to show up for that person and to remember who I am and to show up as, you know, yes, the underdog, but also the expert. And that's where, you know, prep has everything to do with it. You know, that's one of my favorite lessons I learned, both from you, incidentally, that the amount of prep you do. but also again I'm going to name him Alex Ramosi who does an insane amount of prep for a short meeting it allows you to show up better for your client and so because of that you do your prep but you show up as an expert and you understand that you're there for them it's it's a lot easier then it's not a competition anymore they recognize who you are and they're your people already yeah you know a great point great point

it's about being prepared and gosh all you agents are listening all you entrepreneurs that are listening, I'm going to encourage you to do this. Always spend at least 15 minutes, just 15 minutes before your next meeting preparing for that meeting prior to the meeting. And you're going to appear to be twice as competent, twice as smart.

And you're going to secure that business that much easier with just 15 minutes of prep before the meeting. Really? And I get it. We don't, you know, money is a, big deal. I want money. I need money. Money is a tool. And it allows us to help our family, to serve our communities and ourselves. I need money. Okay. Got it. So when I'm going to this, to this client, I'm trying to ask them to let me work for them for free for the next three to six

months and hope to get paid. Right. So I get that that money's on your head because you need to pay the bills. You need to take care of your family. I get it. I'm there with you. But if you put your client first, what are they trying to do? You know, I heard the saying you, the amount of money you get is directly proportional to the number of people you serve. So if you put their needs and their service, if you understand them, if you understand them, put yourself on their side, then that money starts flowing in real quick and real easy. You know, that's a great point. Often we don't go around the table and sit on their side of the table.

to understand hear and see what they're looking at. We often sit across the table and we're trying to push our agenda and not hearing their agenda. Would you agree? Absolutely. So how do you? We're trying to figure out what to say to get them to choose us. Right. And that's what we're thinking.

Is it the price? Do I have to have a higher listing price for them? you know, do I have to prove my expertise to let them choose me as their buyer agent for their, you know, $5 million property they're looking for, whatever the case may be, right? That's what we're thinking. But if we were to put that down for a second on the table and actually try and see from their point of view, and it's a physical thing for me. I'm a very physical learner.

So I envision myself going, okay, I know why I'm here. Let me try and understand what they, need. What exactly is what their need? And so, you know, Chris Voss, he's an incredible author, and for those of you that don't know, he's written a couple of books. One of my favorite, never split the difference was initially very big, but the full fee agent, oh my goodness. But one of the things I learned from that is just to put myself, imagine putting myself on their side of the table and just start asking questions to understand what really they're trying to do. Even now, as I'm talking to you, I genuinely would rather ask you questions rather

than being asked questions. And I suspect there's, you know, people out there listening to this, wondering what they need to do to get that listing. And I got to tell you, get them talking. Just listen to what they're trying to do and pick up the skill sets from anywhere. Randy is amazing at teaching that stuff. Put yourself on their side. Yeah. I was going to ask you, you know, what are your your methodologies or what your strategies for doing that, but you shared that so eloquently is just basically seeing it through their eyes, right? Seeing it through their eyes and their voice, hearing it through their voice is really how that happens. And when that happens, they're going to recognize it. Finally, finally somebody sees them and hears them and understands them.

Yeah, it's, and that magic moment happens. We've all seen that. We've all experienced that at some point. I love hearing the words exactly or that's right from my clients. I love it. It is literally a game I play because it means that I finally know exactly what they're thinking or what they're trying to do. And so I keep, you know, testing out or repeating what I think they want to do or what I think their goal is and what I think they're thinking, whatever the case, read the books, get Randy to teach you the skill sets. He's awesome at that. And or reach out to me. But, at the end of the day when they say, you know, those magic words. Are you promoting my scientific scaling systems course?

Is that what you're promoting? Oh, gosh. I didn't mean to, but if I could, I would. Yeah, absolutely. It's great. It's great. Awesome. Awesome.

So, you know, 365 days in the year, all these weeks, all these months that go by, how do you stay sharp each and every day? Because it's a long journey through. the year and the year has many ups and downs. Of course, there's months that are really good and there's months that can be a little bit, you know, thin. How do you stay competitively sharp in the mind? I have a secret. I don't. I'm going to tell you about my failures. I am not that super agent. I'm not that, you know, full force. I succeed 100% of the time or anything like that. I trip and fall always. There are times when I don't do the things I should be doing. There are times where I have a really

tough time just doing the things that I need to be doing. I doubt myself. I'm afraid of doing those things. And honestly, one thing I'm reminded is that no matter what field you're in, you will recognize that the people that stick in there, the longest, end up being the ones at the top. Right. So So if you're in, if you just stick through it and just keep trying and keep failing and keep trying again and keep trying to do better, you will succeed. The only time we fail is when we stop. That's what like in real estate, right? You buy a property at the maximum price.

The only time you end up losing money is if you sell it at a low price. If you just hold on to it, as long as you can afford it until it becomes expensive again, you'll win. So, yeah. So there are times throughout the year where I trip and fall. But again, mindset comes into it. I remember my wise and I get back up and I get at it again and I hit it harder and I hit it better and I learn from my last mistakes and keep moving forward.

You know what I heard from that? Humbleness, vulnerability and transparency. And again, I think these are three qualities that, you know, you may think that the big producers, you know, they're just full of bravado, but to me, the real agent, the real agent in the marketplace is humble, vulnerable, and has transparency. When they fail, they say they fail, and they're very vulnerable with their clients as well. I know they want us to be their advocate and their hero up front, but we still need to have some of that humbleness, transparency, and vulnerability. Would you agree? I appreciate that. Yeah, well, I appreciate that. Yeah.

I, they're my heroes. You're my hero. I've seen some amazing agents and leaders in the industry that have done phenomenal. And what, yeah, when I was starting out, I thought I'm not succeeding because I'm not having the perfect days that they have every single day. They told me to do all these things every day, six days a week. I've done them only twice. I'm never going to succeed.

And it wasn't until, you know, I had those honest conversations with you and with people that are amazing that I realize, oh, that's what we need to strive to do, but not necessarily, we're not doing it every day. And it's okay to fail, but it's important to get it up and do it again and do it better and learn from it. Okay, last question on the mindset and then we'll move on to the next, which is really what I'm excited about, which is the return on life segment in our podcast. But one last question, what separates what you think are top agents in the marketplace? What is the X factor?

and do you have an X factor? Yeah, you know, my brother asked me, hey, Nev, what's different about you than any other agent? And I was caught off guard and I thought, my brother. And of course, the brother-in-law can do that, right? But, you know, what separates me, I'm here to serve, period. And when I'm here to serve, I do it to the best of my abilities, and that includes preparing like no tomorrow prior to. I do not have all the answers to everything, but you will get the full honest person here who will go out and try and get it for you. My focus is my client, not myself.

That's been the case for me. That's something I brought in from the military. it's to the soldier to my left and to my right first, not myself. And so that mentality is what I think separates me and the dedication to, you know, just be me. Awesome. Awesome. Well, hey, again, if you're enjoying this, please subscribe. We'd love to have some more subscribers. And we're going to move on to the last section of our podcast, which is really what the podcast is named. return on life. And Neb, when you think of return on life, what comes to your mind?

And what do you think of ROL? You know, I told you I watched your podcast. And I've heard you ask your guest this question. And I started panicking. I was like, what does return on life mean to me? You know, I've always felt like if it's an investment type of mentality, return on life, you know, just strictly speaking of the meaning, input equals output or greater output.

Right. So I put it in as much as I can to get as much, much more out. I live my life to make a difference in my family's life and the generations to follow, but I also want to have a positive impact on my close community and as much of an impact positive as possible. You know, I think I want to be the one. And I think you know what I mean by that for my family and for those. And so for me, return on life is just remembering that all the actions and all the things that I do to keep that in sight so that when I put all the work in, it's to be the one and get that out from my family and those around me. Oh, that's very noble, very honorable. And, you know, the one, I'm going to make sure that I expand on that a little bit.

The one is the one that is the difference maker in your family. And, Deb, I know that you are the one. You are the one. From my perspective, anyways, you are the one. So I appreciate it. I hope to be. We all have that in our family that did that for us. For me, it was my grandfather and my grandmother who were the ones who took our family to the next step. You know, my parents had, I was saying it. I know in your case, I can guarantee you are the one in your family. I know your story. But for the next generation, I hope to try and be the one for my entire family. So at my let's set at best. And yeah, absolutely. Well, return on life can be, I think, a bit of a challenge in real estate. As we know, agents that are listening are entrepreneurial, serial entrepreneurs. You know, it's one of these things that we kind of get absorbed into and we get addicted to something,

addicted to serving, helping, of course, making some money too. And so that can be a bit of a challenge for us to really get this thing of balance in our life. And, you know, it kind of swings from one side to the next, you know, we're super, super busy missing out on life, but we've got this great ROI happening. And then we kind of go, gosh, I need a real little bit of return on life and it swings the other way. But how do we keep it kind of dancing in the middle? And how have you been able to handle that? I know you've got a beautiful wife, Chanel, and you've got a dog, Cairo. You're busy in many, things, and I know you're active in things outside of real estate, too. How do you do that? How do you

balance it? Yeah, I think with Alex Ramosey and David Goggs, I have a lot of mentors. They don't know they're my mentors, but I do. They all talk about, forgive my language, but balance is bullshit. If you want to have a balanced life, you're going to have an okay life and you're not going to be the one. Yeah. And so, yeah, I think that swing mentality is important. And you put yourself wholeheartedly into your work, into your business, into your passion, whatever that may be. And then just put your whole thing into it. And then you come back and you put your whole energy into your family, into your activities,

into your church, into your volunteer work, whatever the case may be. And that's how I work at it for me. My family kind of jokes me because we've all had that experience where they just can't get a hold of me. I'm constantly gone. I'm with my clients. And then when I show up, when it's time to show up, they know I'm the one they can depend on. So it's, you know, as the saying goes, work hard, play hard.

Yeah. And I think that's a really great way to share it. Work, play hard, play hard, because there's times that you just got to go and work. You know, there's that saying, you know, when the sun shines makes some hay. And if you're a farmer, you know what that means. When the sunshine, you got to make the hay. You got to like bail the hay because if it's wet, you can't bail. And then when there's time to rest and catch up with the family, then you go heavy on that side as well.

So it's a challenge in real estate because we're always on. We're always on. Or do we just think we have to be always on? You can, yeah, it's your business. you decide what you want it to look like. To me, when the business slows down, that's when I start working even harder. And when the business is busy and it's all coming in, great. I carve out a day here or maybe a few days there where I have somebody trusted that can help me

while I go spend some time with my family because I know the business is moving. But anyways, I digress. Your business, just stick to it. Don't be afraid. Reach out to the giants around you to help you and lift you up. but honestly, don't be afraid. Just keep doing what you got to do and put yourself in your client's shoes

and be there to serve them and you cannot fail. I can add a little bit to that because I think we're often way, way too busy doing nothing. And I think we waste a lot of energy and a lot of time when we could be getting an ROL experience or return on life experience, yet somehow we think we're working and we confuse busyness with actual production.

Absolutely. And so, you know, for the listeners out there, and you're saying absolutely, Neb, I think we need to really reevaluate the hours and the minutes that you put into your day and what you're doing actually within that day. And I think you'd find a lot of time outside that day you could enjoy doing some ROL.

Here's a crazy idea. I mean, I, you know, I live in Sardis, close to Kaltes Lake in Chilac. My family all live close to Vancouver. Sometimes I drive to them, and I have clients all over from Vancouver, Chilac. And as I drive, I make my calls. So I'm working while I'm going to see my family, and then I'm spending time with my family, just like I would spend time with my clients. So absolutely.

Mm-hmm. Well, that's awesome. Return on Life, and that's Neb's version of Return on Life, ROL. And so that was really, really great. Hey, hit that subscribe button. We're going to finish off with a bit of a speed round. Here we go. Are you ready, Neb for a speed round?

Shoot the puck. Shoot the puck. Hey, well, speaking of speed round, I'm going to add one then. So if you were playing hockey, would you want to go end to coast to coast, take that puck all away, or would you rather be the person that sets up, the perfect goal to get an assist. What would you rather be? So I was a soccer player growing up and I was a midfielder. So in that sense with hockey, I'd be the guy that sets the goal up. Absolutely. But I'd also want to be there to take the shot.

Right on. Okay. Fast food, Uber eats, good old barbecue, fine dining. Which one are you taking? Oh, barbecue then fine dining? Only one, buddy. Okay, fine dining. My wife deserves it. Okay. I'm going to switch this one up. If you had a dance that you could do or dance with somebody,

would it be hip-hop, salsa, or just a school dance? Salsa, but I'd love to learn tango. Tango. I'd like to learn just to dance. Come on over. We'll teach you. Okay, okay. You're on, you're on.

That's a date. Next question. If you were going to pick any concert to go to, what concert would that be? I'm going to sound weird. If Bruno Mars was putting one on, I would love to be there. Oh, I'm with you on that one, man. Yeah. He's got such good energy.

Oh, I love it. Energy to burn. Any you should be able. Yeah. Okay. Last question. Last question. If you were a scratch and sniff sticker, scratch and sniff sticker, and I scratched your shoulder, what would I smell? Love. No. Okay. All right. You know, I, gosh. What does love smell like? yeah right it's unique for everybody yeah um that's a good answer i think you should run with that one yeah i honestly that's it like yeah i would want to smell like that that's great that's great hey neb thank you so much for joining me on the return of life podcast

i'm going to say i'm going to try your name one more time neb you i got that one that's easy so uh help me out help me out military they used to just call me yitty Yedi, which incidentally is my mom's favorite nickname for my dad. Anyways, it's Yiddagling. Yadagaling. Yadageling. Perfect. If you can say, Schwarzenegger, you can do Yadagelangir.

Awesome, awesome stuff. Neb, you are an amazing individual. I'm so grateful to have you on our podcast. Thank you, thank you. That's an honor to be part of this and to be in your circle. Thank you. Right on. Hey, thank you for joining me on the Return of Life podcast.

I'm excited that you're here. I need you to hit the subscribe button on the YouTube channel and follow us on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Comments, reviews, guests that you think should be on this would be so important for us. So we want to hear from you as well. And of course, we're on all the social platforms where we are always discussing everything that is above. That ROL, Return on Life.